MATTERS OF LIFE AND DEATH

Call to euthanize terminally ill who wish to die

(London Telegraph) Prolonging the suffering of a dying patient in pain is an ‘unequivocal evil’ the British Medical Association conference was told Wednesday.

Prof Raymond Tallis called for the BMA to drop its opposition to a change in the law that would allow doctors to assist terminally ill, mentally competent adult patients to die.

Prof Tallis, of the organisation Healthcare Professionals for Assisted Dying, said: “Unbearable suffering, prolonged by medical care and inflicted on a dying patient who wishes to die is an unequivocal evil.

“What’s more, the right to have your choices supported by others, to determine your own best interest when you are of sound mind, is sovereign.”